Day 20

3:00 - Draw near by faith - Even when it doesn't feel like He is there - "But He is invisible. It doesn't seem like He is there." That's why we live by faith. That's why we get to know Him. He's there and you will know that He is there. I like the whole thing about faith (living by faith vs. living by how I feel). It protects me from living sensual - what you see is what you get - living by feelings. That is what has messed us up our whole lives - living by how it seems.

15:00 - Respond to Him when He speaks through a song or the word - You can respond to that song. It's more than just singing. Remember how we meditated in the word? Responding to what He says in the word? Engage your heart. He is the Lord of Glory and yet He calls me friend. That song is my favorite. The door is wide open for worship:

16:05 - I am Yours. You love me with all that You are. You gave Your life for me. You have made me a friend. You have unveiled the mystery... And everything that the gospel has spoken becomes your reality in that place of worship.

➡ 22:00 - YESTERDAY - We looked at Jesus and what love looks like. We looked at John 1. The reason we were there - "In the beginning..." - let's finish up something that I wanted you to see...

22:40 - v.12 - But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: - "The right, power, authority" - Greek for authority & power - the right to become the children of God. This shows God's heart that we be one.

23:00 - We want more than doctrine - We want to know Him - You have to be very careful that this just doesn't become a doctrine to you and you just have sound theology or doctrine - because it will never hit your heart. It's when you exchange with Him the thought of sonship. When you exchange with Him through songs like we just played - sonship. When you get personal and intimate with God - to know Him is eternal life. Don't ever forget that. That's our pursuit - to know Him more. Then this will never be a doctrine.

➡ 24:40 - So how else is it going to be your reality? This is what we are going to talk about. The answer is simple in the sense of becoming love. We are looking at love. We are seeing what love is. Love is Jesus' life lived. Jesus' life is the expression of love.

25:00 - Jesus is the Father revealed - Jesus is the expressed image of the of the Father in His person (Heb. 1:3a - Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,) The expressed image of His person - the Father. Colossians says He is the visible image of the of the invisible God. (Col. 1:15a - Who is the image of the invisible God,) So when you see Jesus you are seeing God revealed. And He is the living epistle of love. He is walking and living the heart of God. He went around doing good, healing all who were oppressed of the enemy.

26:00 - Participant comment on the Greek word behind image - icon. What we see when we see Him is God.

26:05 - Express image - in full - every detail without a doubt.

26:25 - In John 14 He talks to Philip and says, "Have you been with me so long and yet you don't know me?" Do you hear the covenant and oneness with the Father in that? He's talking almost like He is the Father. "When you have seen me you've already seen the Father." (John 14:9 - Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?) It's like, "To know me is to know the Father." That's how precise He is talking there. "If you have met me, it's like you have met Him." Jesus is the Father revealed.

27:00 - Bill Johnson - If your theology doesn't line up to the life of Jesus. Change your belief.

27:15 - God has made an eternal statement through Jesus - Because in these last days He has spoken through His Son (Heb 1:2a - Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son). I understand that God speaks - that He is always speaking. But listen to what Hebrews says...God HAS SPOKEN. In other words, God through Jesus, has made the final statement. He has revealed it the way it is. So we are always going to be worthy. The door is always going to be open for redemption. He is always merciful - always loving - no shifting - no turning. God changes not. He has spoken. He has made an eternal statement through His Son. Truth is here to make us free.

28:50 - Communing as you think about these things - I think about that stuff - camp in it. I say that stuff out loud to God and affirm that. And His Presence touches my heart and bears witness to that (truth). And the Spirit of God bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God.

29:00 - It's not just wishing or hoping but believing - Now if you are just walking around hoping you are or wishing that God would reveal that, you are way late on it. That bearing witness won't be realized. It's when you step in and start saying "yes" to every "yes" of God - when you start communing and saying "yes" and put on your robe and just look good in it and say, Wow, it fits perfectly. You made this just for me. I was made to be righteous. Then the Spirit of God bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. Why? Because you dare to believe that He wants you to be a child and that He has made you a child and you are in fact a child.

29:35 - Grace meets faith and bears witness to the truth you have believed - So as you agree by faith, grace comes on your life and bears witness that it is true. And you are not even concerned about being presumptuous.

29:45 - It's not presumption - So a lot of people who don't have that reality, hear what we are preaching and think it is presumptuous. Like, "Who do you think you are?" "I'm trying to tell you." And then they will say limiting things like, "Yeah, but that was Jesus." Yes, the one that said follow me and the same One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us and will quicken our mortal body. As the Father sent me I send you - John 20:21. He is the firstborn among many. And I am predestined to be conformed to His image. There are more scriptures... We can miss the message. So He gave us the right. He gave us the authority.

➡ 30:55 - I'm going slow so that you can see how much is in these verses - referring back to John 1:12. And we could go to any where in the Bible and do this. So please don't just be in a hurry to know what your Bible says. Hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying.

31:10 - v.12 - But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: - You have to receive Him. You have to understand that He is the Way. He is the Messiah, your answer for redemption.

31:50 - That's why He is our everything. Why? Sometimes we think He is our everything because He can meet all of our needs - physically, financially - and we need Him. No, He is our everything because without Him we would have no true identity. I find myself in Him.

32:45 - as many - We are all in if we will just receive. There is no cut off there - as many as would receiver Him. There was a cut off for the registration of this school - 50.

34:42 - Participant's comment - v.11&12

36:30 - That "knowing" is solidified only through relationship - personal communion - Back to his comment - There is only one way of knowing... communion, meditating in the word - not just reading for head understanding... Who has ever read the Bible and know what it says and because it's not our reality get frustrated. It's not something you are waiting for to fall into your lap. That is how it is taught a lot. I don't teach it that way. It's all through relationship - (the "knowing" that you are seeking). [Example of seeing a truth in scripture and exchanging that with the Father out loud.] You are conveying your heart and saying "yes" - when nobody in the world is around. That's the key.

38:00 - Seek Him in the secret place - No other way to "know" those things - In the secret place - where it is just God and you - seek God in the secret place. And He who is in secret will see you there and reward you in the open. What are seeking? To know Him. What is your reward in the open? Knowing Him. Apart from the secret place - communion and expressing and exchanging with God in truth - I don't see any place where there is a grace that transforms us with revelation.

43:15 - Give Him some faith to work with - Sometimes we think, "Well, God has got me on the shelf for a while, wetting me down." Get wet already. That just means be pliable, be workable. Give Him something to work with - it's called faith. "I believe what you say about me through the cross no matter how I feel." And then grace will come into that setting and begin to etch and mold and work and breathe away the sawdust and "Oh my goodness, what a masterpiece. It looks like Papa." But if there is no faith, there s no grace to transform.

45:00 - Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. Here is the devil's tactic: You read life giving stuff and the devil counters with sensuality, feelings and human wisdom, trying to subvert faith. Because if faith ever comes, grace comes. No faith, no grace.

48:40 - v.24 - Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: - Whoever - we are all in. We are all allowed to hear. And does them - that's not works that means responds to them in faith. Jesus has just spoken the whole sermon on the mount. And it's all about the position and condition of the heart - motives of the heart - condition of the heart.

49:30 - When we read the word and hear, from there, is it a choice - doing the word? -

58:20 - "Projecting" is sin - Projecting and missing what God has really called them to speak. It would be a sin to use this setting that I am preaching in to push my thoughts and issues and beliefs just in the way of man (my agenda). Or preaching to specific groups in the congregation, "I hope you are hearing over here." That would be sin. If I had an issue in my heart I should take it to the secret place and make sure things are at peace. Not preaching with passion and fire hoping that you are listening. The way things appear and the way things really are can be very different.

- v.24-25 - Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. - "Built" - something is already built.

The grace period - a time to prepare and get something built - "And the rains came" - There was a grace period to hear and do and have something built before the rains came. So as you are hearing, the storm is not yet raging. There must be some kind of sovereignty in this. God brings His message to your heart and there is some kind of sovereignty keeping the enemy from washing that thing out. And God is giving you some kind of time frame - whether it is a day or three weeks or a year. I don't know. But you are hearing and you are wise if you become what you've heard by entering in and saying "yes".

1:04:35 - Doing what you have heard - "Doing it" doesn't just mean baking apple pies for the neighbors - although that is good. "Doing" means saying "yes" to every "yes" of God. When He says you are a son, be a son. When He says you are forgiven, then walk forgiven. When He says you are loved then go ahead and be loved. You hear the word of righteousness and you wear it. That's the doing side.

1:05:00 - Build the house by accepting by faith in the secret place, everything that the word says - It's not just conditions and commandments and love your neighbor and give to the poor and pay your tithes. That's all part of doing the word too but you can't cut it off there. "Doing the word" is becoming everything it says you are by faith, in the secret place. That is how you are building the house. He's talking about building a house. He's not talking about earning merit.

1:05:25 - Building the house is about establishing your identity - So if it is building a house, it's talking about establishing your identity - establishing who you are because of Him. You are hearing the word - hearing these sayings and you are allowing your heart to be brought into the right position to live all of these things.

1:05:40 - All of these things are issues of the heart - the sermon on the mount. It's the position and condition of the heart. It's living from a selfless place. It's storing up treasures in heaven because you are not coveting for yourself here on earth. He said, "You say... but I say..." so He is changing the language by which we live.

1:06:05 - So when you hear the word and do it, you are likened unto a wise man and you've built your house on the rock. You established the truth and the truth is now in position to keep you free. And THEN the rains came...

1:06:40 - Do you heart the window of grace for you to become the word? You have that opportunity to build. You have that time to become what you have heard in the secret place because of relationship. And tomorrow comes and you do not fall because you have already become the word you heard yesterday. And you rejoice because you know that it's the working of grace. [extended scenarios] It's what you are becoming through. Grace is changing you.

1:21:20 - Re: Jesus coming out of the wilderness in strength and power - Didn't the angels minister to Him? -

1:22:00 - The Hebrews went in selfish - And because they were self-centered it would be better for us if we were back in Egypt eating leeks and onions - us, us, me, me, me. They are in a wilderness but God's there. Who cares where you are at if God is there? If God is there it's not a wilderness. But if all that you see is wilderness then you are trying to get to God and get God to do something - because you are defining your life as a wilderness. I've met many Christians that when asked, "How are you?" respond with, "Well, I am really in a wilderness place. Just keep me in prayer." And sometimes if there is grace I will say, "Well, it must the Hebrews wilderness not Jesus' because I can see it's taking a toll. You must be getting conscious of yourself." All of the sudden it is just Christian language. "I'm in a wilderness brother." Well, the last time that I saw a wilderness, it was Jesus' and He came out more anointed with the Spirit and power than before. Why?...

1:24:50 - If Jesus felt sorry for Himself and said. "Why do I have to go there?" or "Why did I have to take on the body of a man?" If you feel sorry for yourself, if it is selfish in any way, when He received conflict from people He would have questioned what He was doing and why. He would have been threatening to back pedal.

1:26:45 - I've heard that "God will never give us more than we can handle." Will God bail us out of every trial? -

1:29:10 - v.26 - And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: - So He is talking directly about conflict that is coming because of the hearing of the word. Now there are times that satan comes just to try to crush you or whatever. We might not have necessarily had the answers. We might have felt blind sided. We may have had a tragedy happen right after we were saved and felt like it was almost too much to bear. The only thing that will make that true is if you harden your heart or shut up your heart.

1:31:20 - Participant struggled with diagnosis for daughter. If she has to have this surgery, I am done with God. God gave me the strength and peace to get through the waiting process - even prayed for someone else. His grace was amazing. I didn't pray for that strength.

1:36:40 - When the clay finds fault with the Potter something is wrong - You need to settle that no matter how well your mind functions, when the clay finds fault with the Potter, it has to be wrong. When the creation has something over the creator... like wisdom, insight. If you can subpoena Him in the court of your and find Him guilty, you are way off base. He is just and righteous in all of His ways. We will find that we were deceived. He could subpoena us in the court of His mind and we are all done.

1:39:50 - And it's to teach you one of the most important lessons of your life - don't ever put God in that category again (mad at God) - because He is your Father.

1:40:00 - BREAK

1:41:15 - v.14 - And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. - Word capital W. How did he start the chapter. In the beginning... - v.1-2 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. - He was talking about Him, the whole way through. Who is he talking about? The Word made flesh.

1:41:55 - And dwelt among us - Looking at the life of Jesus is so huge. Not just turning it into an Easter story and the message of the cross but the life of Jesus lived - the way He carried Himself, the wilderness experience, the selflessness, not taking things personally, continuing in love, where sin abounded grace abounding more, dying on the cross, the mockery of the Pharisees and still hanging there for their salvation. I think about that kind of stuff.

1:43:10 - What's the big deal? Greater love has no man than this... The highest expression of love is when a man lays down his life for his friends. So Jesus taught that and then demonstrated that. And they were going, "Well he saved others..." as if that were a lower level of love than saving yourself. "Save yourself if you are the Son of God. Come down from the cross." See how twisted that is? As if saving yourself is more important than saving others. You ought to be able to tap into God for your own sake. It's not wrong to receive things from God that are covenant, blessings. But do you hear how twisted what they were saying is? Yet He wasn't here to save Himself. He was here to save those who were heckling Him. And when He rose from the dead they had just as much right to be born again as anyone on the planet. Because love doesn't take account of a suffered wrong. So if a Pharisee were to hear Peter preaching, God would not hold that mockery against him.

1:45:45 - [Imagining Pharisee repenting at Peter's preaching]

1:46:20 - Full of grace and truth - so He is the grace of God revealed. It's the love of the Father, the grace of Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit - The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. - 2 Cor. 13:14. We covered this earlier in the school. So the love revealed the grace and the grace introduced us to the fellowship with God. Now I want to show you something about the word...

1:46:50 - v.15-16 - John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. - Grace for more grace.

1:47:05 - v.17 - For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. -

1:48:00 - So nobody has ever seen God until now. Participant question: Not even Moses? He is talking about in visible, tangible form. Another participant question: How about Adam? I don't know. He obviously didn't come in visible, tangible form as a man. He probably heard Him audibly and walked right beside him.

1:53:50 - Photo of human heart - First photo - hovering. Lady's face appeared. Heart faded. Wrongly motivated. Wrong turn. Called. Got right with God. He rescued her.

1:55:20 - Home group chairs - Words of knowledge over the chairs that people were going to be sitting in. Always right on. There was something that elevated when two were one...

1:57:05 - So I shared that testimony and now I am trying to protect your hearts so that nobody dogs out their spouse.

1:58:45 - One spouse would hold the other to this truth - put pressure on. Then the message is part of the division between spouses. So there are some things you don't have a grace to speak on even if they are truth because of where people's hearts are. That's scriptural in the sense of - If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? - John 3:12.

1:59:20 - Participant's comment - I had to repent of this - selfish mindset. But God doesn't give up on us. He shows us and gives us the opportunity to change and to lay our lives down.

1:59:40 - We don't even realize that it's selfish. It is so justified in the natural wisdom of it - because of lack of fruit - "See!" And then their life affirms the way that you feel. It's all a trap.

2:00:40 - What a difference God can bring. Why? Because you get free from yourself. Because in that place there is a struggle. You can't even see your spouse clearly when those things are your view and your motivation. Because then all you are highlighting then is the weakness. You are actually exploiting that which is not God instead of building on the best. It's totally contrary to truth.

2:01:05 - Do we put a target on our spouse when we focus on the worst in them? - You can. Satan will play with any vulnerability that he can in a person. If you need for your spouse to be a certain way for you to be OK, satan is going to poke them in any way he can to make sure that is not the reality and take two out with one stone. In other words, instead of covering them and protecting them in the Spirit, you can actually be throwing them out there to get pummeled because of a self-centered desire and need. And these are the spiritual complications that we don't realize. It's very dangerous.

➡ 2:02:40 - We cover a lot of different topics in this school. But this is all in the light of what love looks like. And a lot of times you have to expose what it doesn't look like. Because what it doesn't look like is what has been our "normal". Or normal has been - not love - a lot of feelings and you do for me and I'll do for you - a little give and take here and there.

2:03:00 - Participant comment on John 1 - v. 17 - Adam saw God and Moses saw God in some measure but this is the first time that anyone saw what God intended for His creation.

2:15:00 - [Hypothetical scenario demonstrating love despite a perceived wrong] I don't want to act weird until we talk and not see him for what I think may have happened. I want to see him for who he is in Christ Jesus. A lot of us haven't understood that. We see things for the way they seem - face value - judging the book by the cover.

2:16:00 - Jesus loved the disciples to the end - Here is Jesus treating all of the disciples like they are worth the kingdom - knowing that they are going to run and flee and fear the Jews. Knowing that Peter will deny Him 3 times. He still pour His whole life into him knowing that he is going to do that. Believing that the seeds that he sows are going to grow and bear fruit. Taking all the conditions off of Peter because there are no conditions on love. Jesus knew all of this stuff. We might not be able to handle what we hear and see.

2:19:05 - See people through Him - A place where you're not shocked - I've been in some serious situations where I had foreknowledge and understanding and the only reason God gave it to me is so that in my natural I wasn't going to be shocked, "Oh, you're kidding me." We do that with our friends. If you do that with your friends, that's exactly why God won't be telling you that stuff. If you get a phone call and it is a shocker to you, "Oh my God, you're kidding me..." Then all of the sudden you can't even handle it. And you have to take the rest of the night to just get a grip on your emotions and feelings because of what you were just told about somebody. You don't want that in your life. I don't want "blown away" and "shocked" from that realm. I want to see people through Him.

➡ 2:20:45 - NEXT WEEK - We are going to keep going with this (love and what love looks like). There are a lot of places we are going.

➡ 2:21:00 - THIS WEEK RECAP - Greater love has no man than this that He lay down His life for His friends. Some translations say, "for another." The whole goal of our instruction is love. Jesus is the living epistle of love. We wouldn't know love unless He came. We'd only read about love. But now we see love through His life. And we follow Him.

2:22:40 - We're not saved for Him to just meet our "needs" - Contentment - Godliness with contentment is great gain. We really need to get past the thing about, "Yeah, but God wants to meet all of my needs," because your "list" might not even be things that are pertinent to fulfilling His will and manifesting His image. They might just be "needs" of comfort and convenience. And godliness with contentment is great gain. I've learned to be content in whatever situation I am in. Why? Because of knowing Him.

2:23:00 - Am I against blessing? Absolutely not but I don't preach blessing in a way where you start to covet blessing at the cost of freedom and truth - to where you can't have a good day because you didn't get things your way. That's just to resurrect the "old man." So you are not saved for that.

2:24:15 - The fall brought death - But the day that you step out of your identity in me and being one with me and living by my word, my truth - because I'm the truth - is the day you die. That the day you're on your own. You weren't created to be on your own - to be a god unto yourself. You were created to express Me and reveal Me and be found in my image. The day that you step out of that is the day that you are dead.

2:25:20 - Closing prayer - Father I just thank you for the access that we have to You - that we can come boldly... - Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. - Heb. 4:14-16. So Father, we just thank you that we have absolute access to you. Every one in this room is loved by you. You did it once, for all - as many as would believe and receive Him would be the children of God. What manner of love is this, that You would bestow such a grace on us, that we could be the sons of God. And that we are. So bless, Father, that revelation and bless the understanding of every person here. And thank you for the good thing You are working in and through our lives. Thank you for true peace with You - true godly contentment - just a settling of the soul in every person in this place. And from that place of strength, God, what you've built through truth, let us live an effective life that leaves a legacy and brings you glory. In Jesus' name. Amen.